Hello New York!
I sold my car, so I have some money in my pocket for the move. I lost money on the car on the whole, but that's what happens with cars. And the thousands I will save by simply not owning one is an enormous relief and totally worth it. But enough about me.
I want to discuss bike racks. I have seen many types of racks. The most efficient rack is also the simplest design. That would be the upside down U-rack, or staple rack. It doesn't have an official name, but that is the best way to describe it.
There it is in all its glory. It holds two bikes, but also takes minimal space. It also provides stability to hold your bike up as you can lean your bike against it, and provides many places to fit your lock in a secure manner. You can easily lock the back wheel with the frame without having to finagle into a position, as can be seen here:
The first bike (chrome) in the picture has the back wheel locked with the frame. Best way to go.
Racks that aren't as good:
This rack is probably the next best thing to the U-Rack, if only because the other racks I am about to mention are so much worse. Actually, I'm never sure how exactly I'm supposed to lock my bike on this thing, unless I get the end and just lock it to the side. I guess you're meant to put the front wheel under the loop, but wait, then it doesn't fit. Or you put your bike over the U part. I'm not entirely sure.
This one is terrible:
First of all, it's not even bolted to the ground. Never lock your bike to something like this, a thief will make off with the whole rack and deal with getting your bike off it later. Secondly, you can only lock your front wheel to a rack like this. Even if you don't have a quick-release wheel, it takes five seconds to remove your bike from the wheel. I don't even know who could have designed this. Clearly not a cyclist.
What is this? At first I thought, oh this isn't bad, you slide your bike in there in between the slots. Then upon further inspection it appears you couldn't do that because the top if connected by a pole. How would your bike fit under it?
It's kind of how I feel about this one:
As you can see in this photo, some people chose a pole over this rack, and the person who did lock it to the rack couldn't fit the bike in it because of that top pole. Only a child's bike would be small enough to fit in those tiny slots. Why bother even making a rack like this?
Or this:
Or this:
A rack where you can only lock the front wheel is completely moot.
In other news, the city of Portland, Oregon recently began a campaign to insert bike parking where there used to be parking spaces. I think some motorists may have been upset by this, but if you think about it, you can fit a dozen bikes into a space that previously held only one car. So in reality it's more parking for everyone. I was also pleased to see that they used the tradition and most functional U-rack or staple rack. Ah, they understand.
This photo is from the website bikeportland.org
I am amazed at all the wonderful things going on in Portland in terms of cycling. It sounds like a utopia except for the weather. I should visit sometime, I've heard only good things about it.
